Food for Thought

June 26, 2007

Paris Free! Crime Pays!

Now that Paris Hilton is out of jail (read it, see it, on TMZ.com), and before she goes on her confessional media tour starting tonight with celebrity lapdog Larry King on CNN, I've got one question: why does anyone need to pay Paris Hilton for anything?

You no doubt heard about last week's ABC vs NBC bidding war over Hilton's first post-jail house interview, which reached a cool million dollars before both networks were shamed into coming to their senses, and claimed they never, ever participated in checkbook journalism (paying for news maker interviews).

During last week's unbelievable media scrum over exclusive rights to the hotel heiress's prison story, The NYPost ran an article about how crime is paying for Paris. For instance, Getty Images is paying the Hilton's $300,000 for exclusive access to photograph post-jail Paris for People Magazine.

The sickest thing I heard was that Paris's "fee" for showing up at nightclubs and other events in L.A. in order to draw crowds and have her picture taken at said nightclubs or events, will probably go up to about $100,000 per appearance. Whoa! I didn't even know there was money in being a drunken party hopper!

But back to my question: why does a young woman who, according to her own website, stands to inherit $50 million...whose father is worth an estimated $300 million and whose grandfather is worth one billion...need to be paid for anything, much less her photo.

I mean, doesn't it just infuriate you off that while you're making a monthly Costco run to get bulk paper towels and meatballs in order to save a few bucks....the Hilton family negotiates deals with top tabloids in order to get just a wee bit richer?

Sure it makes you mad. But does it anger you enough to ignore the whole thing and NOT go out and buy that People mag, or watch Larry King tonight?

Are you burned out on Paris, or do you plan to tune into her not-so-simple life? What do you think about the influence tabloid news tactics are having on "the real" news? Click below on "Comments" and share your thoughts or rants.